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Don't trust smart people! - Matthew T. Mason

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One day I was walking to lunch with Jeff Schneider, a colleague at Carnegie Mellon, talking about some bad idea that had been foisted on everybody by a brilliant guy. Jeff said, “I have a rule: Don’t trust smart people.” Jeff’s reasoning is this: If a smart person tells you an idea, you should be skeptical. Maybe you are biased by your respect for the source, or maybe the source is a talented idea salesperson. But if you hear a brilliant idea from a dummy, the idea is standing on its own, you can trust it. Let’s call it Schneider’s Law. The irony is that Jeff Schneider is smart, so Schneider’s Law implies that we cannot trust Schneider’s Law, which means that we can, which means that we cannot, which means … OK, I’m sure you get it. Let’s extend Schneider’s Law. Distrust smart people? Okay, and who else? Anybody else come to mind, whose ideas you should distrust? Yourself! If there is anybody whose ideas you cannot trust, it is you. I have sold myself on so many bad ideas, it is pathet

One day I was walking to lunch with Jeff Schneider, a colleague at Carnegie Mellon, talking about some bad idea that had been foisted on everybody by a brilliant guy. Jeff said, “I have a rule: Don’t trust smart people.” Jeff’s reasoning is this: If a smart person tells you an idea, you should be skeptical. Maybe you are biased by your respect for the source, or maybe the source is a talented idea salesperson. But if you hear a brilliant idea from a dummy, the idea is standing on its own, you can trust it. Let’s call it Schneider’s Law. The irony is that Jeff Schneider is smart, so Schneider’s

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